Lives of the Ex-residents of Psychiatric Halfway House After Returning to the Community
Date Issued
2012
Date
2012
Author(s)
Wang, Wei-Hsuan
Abstract
The research goal of this thesis is to provide a reference to those who intend to restructure the current psychiatric rehabilitation service system, especially to establish a more diverse supportive residential model beneficial for the recovery of the mentally ill. Through collecting the experiences of psychiatric halfway house service users, referred as the ex-residents in this thesis, the thesis explores the lives of the ex-residents after they return to the community. The thesis also endeavors to find out what the experiences of staying in halfway houses mean to these psychiatric patients.
Next, three research questions are brought forward: 1. The lives of ex-residents after they returned to the community. 2. What are the changes after residents left the halfway houses? 3. When looking back, what do ex-residents look at their lives staying in halfway houses?
To discover the answers, Depth Interview is employed in this research, with four ex-residents being interviewed. Moreover, the opinions and experiences gathered from a number of professionals and practitioners are also included, creating an in-depth dialogue between the ex-residents’ experiences, the researcher''s interpretation as well as professional views. The Generic Analysis, on the other hand, is conducted, basing on the stories told by the ex-residents, to reexamine the concept of recovery in the context of halfway houses. In addition, the Situational Analysis is at the same time used to organize and weave the story contexts.
The analysis presents the following results. There are improvements in ex-residents’ living arrangement, social networking, working status, family relationship, self-understanding and stress coping capacity. The improvements might be the results of the positive influences by the halfway houses the four ex-residents used to stay in. By analyzing stories of ex-residents, a number of aspects are found concerning their life condition in halfway houses, including the environment and atmosphere of the facilities, the memory of mingling with other residents, and the experiences of interacting with the staff. These aspects provide a way for the researcher to evaluate the services at these facilities. From the past experiences as well as their lives in the community at present, the position of halfway houses within the rehabilitation system can be found. For these residents, halfway houses provide them with companions and social resources and serve to initiate their self-motivation and self-determination, eventually leading them to return to the community. Still, there are rooms for improvements, including the attitudes of workers, the sufficiency of manpower, particularly professionals, the flexibility of the disciplines and the respect for residents’ autonomy.
Through this thesis, the researcher aims to inspire the establishment of supportive residential service programs that are more diverse and show respect to the autonomy of patients. Furthermore, the researcher expects the concept of ‘recovery’ and ‘returning to the community’ be broadened and in the near future, receive wider understanding, leading eventually to the loosening of the current rigid and limited rules.
Subjects
Halfway house
ex-residents
return to the community
supportive residential service program
Type
thesis
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Loading...
Name
ntu-101-R98330008-1.pdf
Size
23.54 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum
(MD5):d43dcc4d3012f3781cda4a09fbb17fa8